Heroism

I first read about a young private in the National Guard who served during World War II while doing a report in the eighth grade. That man’s name was Roger Young. Something about reading his story and the events of the previous week in school had a profound effect on me. I had never been particularly patriotic until 8:46 AM on September 11, 2001. On that day something changed in me. I finally understood the patriotism that my grandparents generation had always felt and the enormity of the debt I owed to hundreds of thousands of men like Roger Young.

While in combat on the island of New Georgia, Young’s platoon came under heavy machinegun fire from a Japanese pillbox. His unit had only rifles and grenades with which to fight off the enemy’s withering barrage of bullets. He was wounded in the initial burst, but was not to be deterred. Private Young crawled through the dense jungle underbrush and in doing so was wounded a second time. As he drew nearer to the enemy fortification he began to fire his rifle until the stock was hit by several bullets and splintered. The private left his weapon and rolled into a shallow ditch that sheltered him from the Japanese. With his good arm Private Young lifted a grenade to his mouth and pulled the pin with his teeth. He stood and hurled the grenade straight and true, but his daring advance was ended by the machinegun’s final burst.

Private Roger W. Young died on July 31, 1943, half a world away from home. He destroyed the enemy emplacement and saved the lives of 15 men in his platoon. Young sacrificed his life for the greater good of his brothers in arms. For his bold and courageous actions in the face of overwhelming odds he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest accolade bestowed by our country.

A hero is a bar we set as individuals as a level of greatness to strive for. This level set by our heroes is not meant necessarily to be attained, but to motivate us to be better than we are. Heroes show us that we should never be perfectly content with what we have accomplished because human capacity for growth is limitless and complacency will only lead to unrealized potential.

The bar I have set for myself is that of Roger Young. He wasn’t as great a warrior as the heroes of myth, and in life he was not the fearless soldier of song he was made into after death. Private Young was just a man, but while in the crucible of combat became a hero. Because of his actions I have realized that heroism is a conscious choice and that everyone has the potential for greatness.

The only way for a person to reach their full potential is to push themselves to their absolute limits and overcome them. It is impossible for that person to know his or her limits if they do not first fail. A failed but valiant attempt at a difficult task is far more admirable than an effortless success. There is no shame in a failure that results from setting the bar too high because every failed attempt is one step towards success.

Great figures in history are not remembered solely for their successes but also for their heroic defeats and unfulfilled dreams. Thomas Edison once said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” The Spartans at Thermopylae lost the battle but are remembered as dying in the most glorious last stand in history. These people are more endearing to us as a result of their apparent shortcomings because, like Roger Young, they illustrate that the defeated can still be victorious. They sacrificed for their dreams and aspirations and even though some of their efforts ended in defeat, they give strength to us all because they dared to dream.